Those Were the Days

You did it. You are free! All those years of working in a law firm, and you have turned the corner at last, securing a hard-to-get in-house job.

Gone is that frustration as you stared at the computer screen that forced you to account for each minute of your professional life with an exactitude that everyone knew was nonsense but all had to pretend to believe. Gone is the up-or-out partner track, the next phase of which was not really to be a partner in the sense of a business owner but a non-equity partner, in the sense of a salaried employee who has to pay an accountant to mine the veins of the firm’s K-1 during each tax season. Gone as well is the recognition that, if you do not eventually shift your career focus from the practice of law to the marketing and sale of legal services largely performed by others, you will be in a delicate and vulnerable position. Three years of law school and a decade or two of practice, only to end up in sales and business administration? That’s a career path for someone with a professional degree and license?